Family of the Wolf
by Princess Falling Star
Summary: Free feels guilty sometimes, as he stares at his beloved daughter. He was an immortal, Eruka and Cynia were not his first family and certainly wouldn't be the last. But that doesn't make him love them any less.


Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater, the real owner is way more screwed up than me.

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Free put down the basket containing the corpse of a deer. He took a deep breath before entering the household and being assaulted by his pup. He grinned and put the basket aside putting it on the wooden floor. Free picked up the werewolf pup and placed her on his shoulder. He dragged the basket into the kitchen and out the pup back on her feet and watched her scurry away.

"Free, you're back already?" Eruka walked in, still a picture of beauty in her plain dress. It was a wool dress, grey in color with a canvas apron. Her long silver-white hair was tied in a ponytail at the nape of her neck. She was barefoot, the sound of her feet hitting the hardwood floor echoed.

"Yeah, I swear those deer are getting slower."

"Well that's good for Cynia, you said you were going to teach her to hunt soon."

"Yeah…." Her pewter eyes shimmered with concern. She cocked her head.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing." She opened her mouth to persist but a bundle of white interrupted.

"Papa!" He turned to see Cynia running up to him again and grabbing his leg.

"Hey Cynia." He grinned, ruffling her mop of white hair. She grinned showing a mouthful of teeth complete with four very sharp canines.

"Hey Cynia, would you mind helping me by getting some herbs from the garden?" Eruka asked.

"Nope, be right back Mama." They watched Cynia scurry out the back door. She turned to her husband, well, not legally but she swore her heart to him in the name of her witch's magic, it was the equivalent of marriage to witches. She was his wife and she would find out what was wrong.

"Free, I'm not stupid, what's eating at you?"

"Cynia's almost old enough to hunt."

"What does that have to do anything?"

"I didn't want to tell you this."

"Tell me what?" She asked nuzzling his shoulder.

"I had a family before." Eruka's eyes grew sad.

"Really?"

"I had parents, siblings, cousins. I had a wife and four pups; three sons and a daughter."

"Oh."

"Cynia reminds me of my first daughter Eva. Cynia is about the age she was when she died."

"Oh Free, I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"How could you? I loved my family but they're gone now. I remember I had been married to my wife for fifty years when we decided to have our first litter. We had three boys and I adored all of them. They were my boys. Ten years later we had another litter, but two of the pups were stillborn and the third was our daughter Eva." He chuckled a little.

"I adored my little angel, how she stumbled over her paws like all pups, how she would ask to ride on my shoulders. When I taught her to hunt, I was so proud of her and my wife made us a huge dinner to celebrate. I remember when she told me she would always be my little girl. She was so cute when she as in her true form, she looked like a wolf puppy."

"What happened to your family?"

"When I was away on a hunting trip, I came back to find my entire clan dead. I came home to five dead bodies. All of them were decapitated. I remember how I found tissue under Eva's claws, I knew she had fought for her life but she died anyway. Ever since, I've been alone."

"It must be hard." She looked into his eyes; she had never seen him so defeated.

"It was, until I met you. You gave me a reason again, you and Senna." Eruka rubbed her shoulder.

"Free, be honest, are Cynia and I replacements for your family?" Free considered his answer.

"No. I do still love my wife and my dead pups. But I love you and Cynia too. That's the good thing about being immortal, we learn to move on and find things to ease the hurt of losing something else. But no matter what, we can never replace something we lost. I've moved on with my life and my family won't be truly dead unless I forget them." Eruka looked down, unconvinced. Much to her surprise Free wrapped her in his arms.

"Just because I loved my wife, doesn't mean I love you any less Eruka. You and Cynia are my whole world." He stroked her silver hair. Cynia came bounding into the kitchen, she was in her werewolf form, wagging her tail. Free let go from Eruka to smile at his little girl. She was as gorgeous as little Eva. Her fur was white and her eyes were gold. Her fur was scruffy looking but it was soft to the touch. Eruka pet her head. Years with Free taught her that werewolves and dogs were somewhat similar; they especially liked getting scratched behind the ears and having their head pet. Eruka would laugh at the way Free would behave when she rubbed his belly. She often teased it was like having a large pet dog.

"I got the herbs Mama!" She grinned. Eruka wiped away a stray tear.

"Thank you darling." Eruka took them.

"So Papa, are you gonna teach me to hunt soon?"

"Of course, first thing tomorrow."

"I can't wait!" she shrieked.

Later that night, Free was laying in his makeshift bed of furs with Eruka curled up in his arms. He did really miss Kurana, Zeyo, Munche, Lekky and little Eva and he felt guilty for it. He had a new family and he felt guilty for having one. Either way he was betraying a family. At night he would often think of his beloved wife Kurana. He would feel guilty for dwelling on past for Eruka's sake, and then he would feel guilty to Kurana as if he had forsaken her by taking a new wife. Then there was the guilt over his pups, would the dead ones become angered under impression that he had replaced them with another. He loved Cynia but he loved his other pups too. He curled his arm around Eruka tighter. Was he being selfish?

Then there was Cynia, for all the love he held for her, she was still in essence an accident. When Eruka told him about being with pup, he wasn't sure what to think. Would a child of witch and werewolf be born healthy? Cynia was as healthy as can be, her werewolf traits entirely dominant; according to Eruka there's wasn't the slightest trace of magic. She laughing saying that werewolf blood must be strong to overcome witch blood. She didn't have the "spark" as Eruka put it. Free and Cynia were the only two werewolves left in the world. Even Eruka would eventually grow old and die, it would take much longer than a human but she would. He and Cynia would stick together out of loneliness and Free would be left without a wife once more. There was a part of him that felt it was cruel to bring another being like himself in the world. If Cynia were to love, her lover would die eventually like her mother. The fate he had been thrown into after the massacre, a fate of solitude, not something he would wish on anyone, especially his own child.

"Papa?" He gently turned his head so not to wake his lover. Cynia was standing in the doorway.

"Hey Cynia, com'ere." He mumbled softly. She trotted towards him on all fours. He pulled her into his other arm.

"What's the matter?"

"I couldn't sleep." She whispered back. He placed his head on top of hers.

"Sleep, I'm here now." She nodded sleepily and curled up in his grip.

"Goodnight, Cynia. Papa loves you."

"I love you too Papa." The little family slept soundly that night in the comfort of each other's presence.

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Princess: This is a small fic which is an elaboration of the ErukaXFree relationship that was discussed very briefly in my fic Child Born of Love. I've been meaning to pt this up for awhile. The concept is that Free and Eruka were banished from witch society and now live i the woods in solitude with their daughter, the werewolf Cynia. Cynia is not a witch, or s mix like Free, she just a werewolf. Anyway this is for all the freeXeruka fans that do not see enough of this pairing. I don't know if Free actaully had a family before the genocide of werewolves, but I figured that is was plausible. So I hoped you enjoyed it!


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